Vintage Ottoman Turk Niello Cigarette Case

[niffler]

That thing is awesome

 

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[HistoryTeacher]

It really cleaned up beautifully. I would have a hard time letting that go.

 

[DWerk]

Great find, one of those that make this hobby so interesting and keeps drawing us to it.

 

[ARC]

I've done a bit of cleaning of old surface oxidation and grungy build up to reveal more of the details. It's a marvelous thift store find. I'm not sure if the 8 point star that replaced the Ottoman tughra doesn't have some meaning to it. I have found that at one time in the past the Turkish flag did have an 8 point star, whereas today the star has 5 points. The other thing I found was an old drawn image of a flag that is said to be a Turkish Merchants flag and also a flag of the Ottoman-Greeks. Still some things to wonder about this item. Like what is the meaning of the inscription on the opposite side of the Ottoman looking coat of arms. Is it a name inscribed or does it say something else?. I sure can't read it.

Wow Tam... that sucker looks great now... hmmm makes me wonder if it MAY have some silver in it.
Your thoughts on that now that its clean ? ? ?
I mean you know silver well from my viewpoint of ya,,, what do you think now ?

 

[sprailroad]

Any Silver or not, it's a keeper. Nice....

 

[tamrock]

Wow Tam... that sucker looks great now... hmmm makes me wonder if it MAY have some silver in it.
Your thoughts on that now that its clean ? ? ?
I mean you know silver well from my viewpoint of ya,,, what do you think now ?

Today I went to scrap for cash these baily banks & biddle pieces I recently bought, along with a pair of 10k earrings. I had this cigarette case in my pocket to have it tested while I was there. I got my cash and looked at the fascinating ancient coinage and plum forgot to pull this out and get it beamed with their XRF gun. Only clue I have is the one I found online that has the same mark and says its Greek. They just say it's silver with no mention of purity.